


Trigger The Light

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Marvel What If's [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Almost Kiss, BAMF Peter Quill, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Celestial Peter Quill, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gen, Kissing, Love Bites, M/M, Neck Kissing, Other, POV Peter Quill, Peter Quill Lives, Pining, Protective Peter Quill, Rough Kissing, Scott Lang is a Good Bro, Scott is a Good Friend, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-27 06:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21387964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: What if Quill survived the Snap?Part of the Mama Bear/Antlord AU but more of a what if.
Relationships: Peter Quill & Cassie Lang & Original Female Character(s), Peter Quill & Tony Stark, Scott Lang & Peter Quill, Scott Lang/Peter Quill, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Marvel What If's [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1519460
Comments: 14
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

It was just the three of them. Tony, Nebula, and Quill. The men were in bad shape after almost a month of drifting in space (Quill could keep them on track for Earth, but actually flying the ship would burn their resources faster), and miraculously, Carol found them and got them back to Earth. They were both taken into the compound and given an IV before meeting up with the remaining Avengers and discussing their next move. Tony shut down when he saw Stephen and Peter on the screens in front of them, as well as another teenage boy, and when he tried to leave the room, he collapsed. Quill kept uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole thing as he studied each face that popped up on the screens, and only when the others talked about going after Thanos did he say something.

"The ship needs repairs." He mumbles.  
"How long will that take?" Steve asks and Rocket was the one to answer.  
"We can leave in the morning. Quill...you gotta stay. You're in no shape to go back out there."  
Quill shrugs. "For once in my life, I want to stay on Earth. Just make sure you bring my ship back in one piece."

That had been the end of that conversation. The able bodied team members left to confront Thanos in space the next morning, and Tony and Quill took the next few days to recover. The engineer's baby daughter had survived the snap out of his entire immediate family, and when they were well enough to leave the medical ward, he approached Quill in the common area. The outlaw had been lazily scrolling through the internet on one of Tony's Starkpads, but nothing processed in his mind. He wasn't in the mood to try to catch up on what happened in the past thirty years while he was gone, and he didn't really see the point because of the Snap.

"Quill." 

The man looks up at Tony and finds not only baby Diana on his hip, but also another little girl standing beside him with an overnight bag. He had recently met her just a couple of days ago, found out her name was Cassie, and that her Dad was one of the victims of the Snap. Her mother and stepfather were in the middle of traveling and they had no way of contacting them.

"I...I can't stay here. I bought a cabin by a lake and I'm taking the girls with me. You're welcome to come if you want."  
Quill looks at the trio standing a few feet away and he nods. "Yeah...sure."

__________________________  
Five years passed. Tony and the girls made the best of it, and Quill stayed because he bonded with Diana and Cassie. It wasn't like there was much for him out in space anyway. Rocket and Nebula were borrowing his ship, out doing who knows what, (helping out the world and the universe probably) and Quill was helping Tony raise the girls. Well, not so much raising...just helping. Being the uncle Diana called him and making sure Tony didn't get lost in his head or lock himself in his lab too long. There were very few pictures of his late family around the house and those few still hurt the engineer to look at sometimes.

"UNCLE QUILL!" Diana yells from outside, and the pirate flies off the couch and out of the cabin to find the little girl standing under the apple tree and looking up. Cassie was a couple feet away reading a book.  
"Shit, don't scare me like that. What do you need kiddo?"  
"I want an apple!"

Quill looks up at the tree and, considering how high up the lowest apple was, figured that not even Cassie would have been able to reach. He was the tallest member of the household anyway so it made sense that Diana automatically thought to ask him for help. With a smile, he grabs three apples, tells the little girl to wait, and walks back inside with the fruit to wash them. After that, he goes back outside and hands one to Diana before following her over to her little fort and handing another apple to Cassie.

"Is Tony in his lab again?" She asks as Quill sits on one of the lawn chairs and Dia crawls into her fort.  
"Nah. I think he's making dinner actually."  
"At least it's not you. We still haven't refilled the fire extinguisher." Cassie sasses and Quill flicks her forehead.  
"Maybe we should talk about that window you broke-"  
"Okay truce!"

Cassie bats away his hand and he chuckles as Gerald walks over to see what all the excitement is about. The alpaca nudges Quill with his muzzle when he notices the man's apple, and the pirate groans before taking a knife out of his pocket. He cuts off a slice and offers it to the animal and then gently pushes him away.

"Alright, now get out of here. Go raid the garden." 

He stands up and herds the alpaca away from the girls' area and he watches curiously as a car pulls into the driveway. As far as he knew, neither he nor Tony were expecting company, so he waits until the car is parked and sighs when Steve and Natasha climb out of the car. Another person gets out of the back seat but was quickly hidden behind Steve as the trio made their way over to Quill.

"It's been a hot minute since we've seen you." He says to them and pulls the Captain into a hug. The hug gave him the opportunity to see who else came with them and it had his eyes widening. He recognized the man as someone that had been on the monitors when he and Tony made it back to Earth. A Snap victim.

Steve moves away and motions toward the shorter man as Diana leaves her fort to hug Natasha. "This is Scott. Scott Lang. He's-"  
"Not to be rude, but they said Cassie was here." Scott interrupts.

Before Quill can turn to ask Cassie if she knew this man, she was rushing past him and falling into Scott's arms. The way he held Cassie was clear enough to the pirate that Scott was Cassie's father, and it brought a warm feeling to his chest. It was nice to see that the teen got one of her parents back and how happy it made her. Quill loved the girls. They were family, and he would do anything to keep them happy. 

"I'm a little confused." He finally says after a few minutes of letting Scott and Cassie reunite and they all look at him. "Weren't you snapped?"  
"No. That's partially why we're here." Steve answers.  
"Explanation after food. I'm starving." Scott says just as the screen door opens.  
"Hey! Chow time!" Tony yells as he heads toward them after stepping off the patio. He raises an eyebrow when he notices the three extra people. "Good thing we always make extra. Porcupine eats like Capsicle."

Tony then notices Scott and his mouth drops open as the younger man leaves Cassie's side and hugs the engineer. Tony pats his back in bewilderment and Scott pulls away after a few seconds to endlessly thank him for taking care of Cassie. They all go inside, Natasha carrying Diana on her hip, for dinner and once Scott gets a good amount of food into his stomach, he explains where he had been the last five years. The conversation did get sidetracked to Cassie's care again and Tony had recovered enough from his earlier shock to hold his hand up to quiet Scott.

"Hang on. I'm not the only one that took care of her. Quill had a part in it too."  
Quill stops chewing on his bite of pasta and shakes his head after swallowing his food. "I didn't do anything." He clears his throat when Scott's golden eyes settle on him. "Tony did all the...parenting. I just...babysat sometimes I guess."

Tony _and_ the girls immediately denied his words. They let Scott know that Quill did a lot for them just like Tony, and Scott stared at the pirate for a few more moments before turning the conversation back to the subject of the Quantum Realm and his theory. When time travel came up, Tony rubbed his hand over his face as he thought it over.

"We've all lost someone. Maybe I didn't lose a lover, but I still lost friends." Scott says quietly and Steve nods.  
"We all did. We lost friends...family. You lost your kids."  
Natasha reaches across the table to gently grab Tony's trembling hand. "You lost Mama Bear too. We all lost him. He means everything to us too. If it weren't for him, this family wouldn't be one."  
Tony inhales and let his breath out slowly. "I...I can only promise to try. I don't want this to backfire and end up without more of you. I can't risk the girls."  
"That's enough for us. Take all the time you need so you're confident it will work." Steve says.

The billionaire nods and they all finish their dinner on a more positive note. They all caught Scott up on what they could, and afterwards Steve and Natasha left for the compound after Tony promised to call them when he found anything. Scott obviously was going to stay with them because Cassie was with them, and Tony showed him upstairs to the room he would be using. The one next to Quill's. 

Quill himself was cleaning up after their meal. Since he couldn't do much cooking, he was usually stuck with the chore to do the dishes and clean the kitchen. Which took him a little longer since there was more to clean. Even though there was a fifth person living at the cabin now, it was still quiet and Quill just assumed that Scott and Cassie were catching up. Maybe all four of them were. Diana was only a baby when the Snap happened but Scott still knew her brothers and Stephen. The pirate was pretty much a stranger. He only knew Stephen and Peter for a few hours.

"Shit!" Quill hisses under his breath when he cuts himself on a knife hidden in the sink full of soapy water.  
"There's a reason there's plastic on one end." Scott says from beside him and the pirate nearly jumped out of his skin.  
"The hell?! How long have you been standing there?" 

Scott smirks and Quill's heart flips at the sight.

Wait.

Where the hell did that come from?

Sure, Gamora was just a really good friend when he lost her, but was he actually attracted to Scott? _Maybe_ the younger man was nice to look at, and _maybe_ his eyes were really pretty in the light of the setting sun...

...Quill was in some serious trouble. It hadn't even been five hours and he was pining after Scott. This wasn't him. He flirted. Looked at potential lovers all together, not specific parts. Not golden eyes, not the shy smile Scott was giving him, not how the man smelled of mint and oranges. Stop. Stop paying so much attention. 

"Do you need a bandage or anything for that?" Scott asks as he motions toward Quill's finger.  
"No. It's not that deep. I've definitely had worse." The pirate sucks on his finger and then returns to his task of finishing with the dishes.  
"I...uh...wanted to thank you. For taking care of Cassie when I couldn't."  
"I told you, Tony did everything."  
"That's not what he and the girls told me."  
"You're welcome then I guess. She's a good kid." Quill says as he puts the last of the dishes on the drying rack and dries his hands. "I thought you would be spending time with her."  
"I had a few hours with her, but she and Dia are getting ready for bed."  
Quill looks at Scott and blinks. "Hours? How long have I been cleaning?" He looks at the clock. "I must have zoned out. Beer?"

Scott nods and Quill grabs a couple of beers from the fridge, and the two make their way into the living room. Once they collapse onto the couch, Quill hands one of the beers to Scott and then turns on the tv, putting a movie on. The rest of the evening passed in somewhat comfortable silence as they watched the movie, and just when Quill was about to strike up a conversation, he looked over at Scott and found the man fast asleep. He turns off the tv when the movie ends and grabs the blanket off the back of the couch, throws it over Scott, and grabs their empty beer bottles. He rinses them before throwing them in the recycling, and quietly asks FRIDAY to turn off the lights before retiring to bed himself.


	2. Chapter 2

A full week passed and Tony still hadn't figured out how to use the Quantum Realm to travel through time, but he also hadn't given up yet. Since he was constantly working on that in the lab, Quill ended up spending time with the girls and Scott. At the moment, he was swimming in the lake with Cassie and Diana, and every once in a while throwing the little girl out into the water. Scott wasn't swimming with them but he was still watching from one of the lawn chairs he was stretched out on. It was a step up from the pacing he did at first when he tried to think of any ideas to help Tony with the time heist idea.

Quill and Scott weren't exactly awkward around each other, but they did kind of circle each other with uncertainty. The pirate because he knew he was attracted to the younger man, but he could only assume that Scott was tiptoeing around him because Quill was a little intimidating. He was a big guy after all. But Tony and the girls always looked at them with a smirk like they knew something they didn't and it made Quill squirm.

"Uncle Quill! Can you throw me again?" Diana yells from the dock.  
"Just a second kiddo!" He swims over to the wooden dock and lifts himself out of the water, barely catching the blush on Scott's face as he did. He chalked it up to the heat though. "One more time. I'm getting hungry so I bet you are too."  
"Yup!" 

Diana reaches up once Quill gets to his feet and he scoops her up and throws her into the water. The little girl giggles until she hits the water, disappearing for a few short moments until her water wings bring her back to the surface. As she swims back to the dock with a smile, Quill looks further out to look for Cassie and when he doesn't see her, he looks back toward Scott and then the house. The teen would have said if she was going inside, and when he didn't see her with Scott, his heart plummeted.

"Dia, did Cassie go inside?" He asks hopefully.  
"No?"

That was all Quill needed to dive back into the lake. It didn't take him long to find the girl, and from what he could see, she was still conscious. Cassie wasn't stuck on anything, but she did seem to be struggling to get back to the surface, so Quill swims over and wraps one of his arms around her waist and takes them back to the surface. They both gasp for air once they break to the surface, and Quill swims back to the dock where both Diana and Scott are waiting. Scott pulls Cassie onto the wooden landing and wraps her in a towel as Quill pulls himself back up and helps her dry off.

"Are you okay? What happened?" The younger man asks her worriedly and she nods at his first question.  
"I got a cramp. It was sudden and I was already under before I could ask for help."   
Scott sighs. "Thankfully Quill was paying attention." He helps Cassie to her feet and hands Quill his own towel. "Thanks for helping her."

Quill only nods and dries himself off as they make their way back into the house, and he and the girls change into dry clothes as Scott starts lunch. When the pirate joins the younger thief in the kitchen, he looks around the kitchen as Scott puts sandwiches together.

"Need any help?"  
"If you think you can handle a knife, you can cut up some fruit."  
Quill huffs. "Oh haha. One time."

Scott smirks and Quill squashes the feeling of butterflies he gets at the sight as he squeezes behind the younger to grab a knife. He grabs some fruit from the fridge and the bowl on the counter and starts cutting up an apple when he notices Scott glancing at him. Quill ignores the first couple of times, but when the short looks continued he got curious.

"What?"  
Scott startles and blushes at being caught. "I'm uh...just curious. How old are you?"  
"Forty-three. Why do you ask?"  
"You don't look it."  
Quill snorts. "Maybe my celestial genes have something to do with that."  
"Your what now?" Scott gives the older man his full attention.  
"I'm only half human. The other half is celestial. Like a god." Quill shrugs. "A powerless one anyway. I used to have powers until…" He throws apple slices onto the plates. "Nevermind. It's a long story."  
"You can't just say that and then not tell me the story!" Scott protests.  
"Maybe I'll tell you later if you're still curious."

Scott stares up at him for a little while longer, but accepts Quill's offer and goes back to making sandwiches for everyone as the other man fills the plates with fruit. Once Quill finishes he walks into the garage and knocks on the door frame to get Tony's attention when he finds the engineer staring at a holographic model. When they first arrived at the cabin five years ago, Quill quickly learned not to startle Tony when he was invested in a project...or at least keep a few feet away when getting his attention. The first and last time Quill did that, Tony reacted by throwing whatever tool happened to be in his hand. Which was unfortunately a wrench and did not feel good when it connected with the pirate's forehead.

"Hey. We made lunch. Take a break."  
Tony looks up at Quill and then back to the hologram. "You and Thumbelina having fun flirting?"  
"Wh-what?!" Quill sputters and Tony dismisses the hologram and raises an eyebrow at him.  
"Please. Anyone with eyeballs can see that you have a thing for Lang, and I definitely have eyeballs."  
"You've been holed up in here for the past week! You're obviously misinterpreting-" Quill grunts in annoyance when Tony pushes past him. "Rude."  
"Sorry. I just don't want to listen to your denial...and the girls are the one who noticed first." Tony says as Quill follows him back to the kitchen until he stops and turns to look at the taller man. "Just one thing."  
Quill sighs and decides against arguing the truth. "Are you seriously going to give me the shovel talk?"  
"Sort of, actually. Scott feels...unlucky when it comes to relationships. He's had a crush on...Stephen…" Tony nearly chokes on the sorcerer's name. "...since he moved into the tower but he knew that wasn't going anywhere and he didn't try anything so we let it go. He has gone through a failed marriage, something with another woman was apparently misread...he's been heartbroken twice--three times if you count Stephen--" The engineer trails off and Quill folds his arms.  
"Tony, what's your point?"  
"Don't pursue him unless you're serious about it. The Avengers are a dysfunctional family, but he's still part of it and I don't want to see him get hurt again. He's lonely Quill...and you're the first person that's made him actually happy in all the time I've known him." Tony exhales and runs his hand through his hair as he turns and makes his way into the kitchen.

Quill just stood in the hallway though. He knew the Avengers were a family, but to see Tony actually worry about the happiness of one of them like this threw him for a loop. Of course Quill had no intention of hurting Scott, but he was still processing the feelings he had for him in the first place. Feelings that probably weren't even reciprocated. He had to think of Cassie too. She meant a lot to Quill, but if she didn't want him going after her father, he would have to back off. To just stay friends with Scott.

They really were friends too. He and Scott might have their little circling dance, but they still laughed at movies together. Scott teased him about the knife incident, Quill pushed him into the lake on three occasions, and they listened to similar music. In the short span of a week this and more happened, and every bit of it had Quill falling harder and faster.

No one had ever made him feel this way.

"Uncle Quill! Me and Cassie are going to eat your sandwiches!" Diana yells from the kitchen and he rushes into the room and grabs his plate of food just before the little girl swipes his fruit.  
"Nice try." Quill pops a blackberry into his mouth. "I gotta eat too." He passes by Cassie and gently pats her shoulder as he sits at the table. "You okay?"  
"Yeah. Thank you for helping me." She says with a small smile.  
"Anytime." 

After lunch, Dia and Cassie help Tony clean up and the other two men relax on the couch after turning on another movie. Scott glances over at Quill when the clinking of his necklaces draw his attention, and he reaches over to hold the charms in his hand and give them a closer look.

"Where did you get these?" Scott asks.  
"Oh, Rocket sometimes brings back scrap for Tony to mess with. Cassie and Dia got a hold of some of it and with Tony's help, they made these necklaces for me for my birthday last year." Quill offers the younger a bottle of beer, and Scott accepts it after dropping the charms.  
"Now that I think about it, you wear them all the time, don't you?"  
"Pretty much."

Except for when he slept, showered, or went swimming. When the girls presented the necklaces to him, he genuinely loved them. They were even more special because they came from the girls who were very important to him, and the sole reason he stayed on Earth instead of going back out to space with Rocket and Nebula. The charms were also proof that Quill was special to them too and he cherished it.

As soon as their movie was done, Diana flew into the living room and begged Quill to turn on a Disney movie, and he did after some complaining. No heat was held in his words though and she knew it because she just rolled her eyes at him as he turned on her requested movie. He, Scott, and Tony had televisions in their own rooms for times like this, so he let them know he was going up to his room to watch his own movies, grabbed a bag of Skittles from the kitchen, and went into his room. Tony would probably sit with the girls for a little while before getting back to work on the time travel theory, and Scott...well Quill wasn't sure. 

Five minutes into his new movie, the side of his face was assaulted by a package of cookies, and Quill looks toward his bedroom door from his reclined position on his bed. He raises an eyebrow when he finds Scott standing in the doorway and then looks back at the tv as he throws a handful of candy into his mouth. He was pushing down the flutter of excitement he got as well, but no one needed to know that. It made him feel like a high schooler and didn't need Tony and Scott to tease him about it.

"If I watch Finding Nemo one more time, I won't be responsible for anything that happens." Scott finally says and Quill furrows his brows.  
"The girls don't watch it that much."  
"Yeah, well Harley and Peter did."  
"I'm watching trashy comedy if you prefer that." Quill offers as an invitation and the younger doesn't waste any time in joining the pirate on his bed. "Shoes off you barbarian."  
"I'm getting to that asshole." Scott snarks and kicks his boots off before sitting against the headboard. "What's trashy comedy?"  
"Stepbrothers."  
Scott smirks and grabs the package of cookies he threw at Quill earlier as well as the man's bag of candy. "You'll ruin your dinner if you eat all of this."  
"Look here you brat!" Quill sits up just enough to take his candy back and pushes Scott off the bed who lands on the ground with a thump and an 'oof'. "Don't take my candy."  
Scott winces and rubs his lower back. "Ugh. I think I bruised my tailbone."  
"I'll do more than that." Quill mumbles under his breath.   
"What?" Scott asks as he climbs back onto the bed with his cookies.  
"What? Nothing. Watch the movie, weirdo." The pirate deflects.  
"Oh shit." Scott murmurs and the older man looks over at him.  
"Hey, I didn't actually mean-"  
"I forgot my juice."

Quill snorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware Quill is 38 during Infinity War, but since he survived the Snap in this story, that would obviously make him 5 years older.


	3. Chapter 3

"Quill."

The outlaw startles out of sleep when Tony smacks him with one of his extra pillows, and he groans tiredly. He looks up from his pillow and the death hug he's giving it and glares at the engineer when he pulls the blankets off.

"Dude…"  
"You have no idea how glad I am you don't sleep in your birthday suit because I did not think that through." Tony admits.  
"What the...what time is it?" Quill asks and fumbles for his phone on the nightstand.

He blinks away the spots the glare of the phone's light gives him when he checks the time, and groans again when the time of a little past three in the morning stares at him. He was going to kill Tony.

"Somebody better be dying." Quill grouses.  
"The opposite actually. Sort of. I figured out time travel." Tony tosses Quill's pillow back onto the bed and turns to the bedroom door. "Meet me in the garage. I'm gonna go wake up Thumbelina."  
"This can literally wait until a few hours from now when _normal_ people are awake!" 

Quill throws the previously discarded pillow at Tony and sighs heavily when the engineer steps just out of the way as he leaves the room, and it lands with a fwump on the ground by the door. He scrubs at his eyes in an attempt to wake up and crawls out of bed, not bothering to pull on a shirt as he leaves his bedroom. He didn't see the point. Quill was just going to let Tony prattle on about his discovery, not process a single word, and then go back to bed. He wasn't above asking Tony to explain everything again at a more reasonable hour.

When he finds himself in the garage, he immediately makes his way over to the couch that Tony stuck in the room and used a little too often and collapses back onto it. The moment he was laid out, he dozed off until another pillow is thrown at his face and disturbs his sleep once again. Quill grumbles and tosses it back at Tony, successfully hitting the engineer this time, and sits up.

"As exciting as this is...couldn't this have waited a few more hours?" Scott asks sleepily, and Quill was barely lucid enough to notice his choice of sleepwear. 

A t-shirt and boxers. Weirdly endearing...and common. Quill had seen Tony wear something similar and didn't care, so why was it different with Scott? It must be because of his...crush. The pirate winces at the word. He was feeling more and more like a high schooler. 

Quill sets his elbow on the arm of the couch as Tony starts explaining about the theories of time travel, and lays his head in his hand. He could pretend to listen. Even if he tried, he would probably fall asleep because explaining everything _at three in the morning_ was too much to ask.__

_ _"Porcupine! Did you hear a single thing I said?" Tony demands and Quill blinks.  
"Every word."  
"What's the last thing I said?"  
"Something about a paradox."  
"Tony, it's the middle of the night. You need sleep. We can talk about it on the way to the compound after we call someone to watch Cassie and Dia." Scott reasons._ _

_ _Scott to the rescue, Quill thought. Even better, Tony agreed to the younger's terms and shuffled off to bed as the pirate seriously considered passing out on the couch he was on. Just thinking about walking back up to bed was tiring, but before he could follow through with conking out where he was, Scott walked over to him and held his hand out._ _

_ _"Come on big guy. I promise your bed will be a lot more comfortable."_ _

_ _By some miracle, Quill was able to use his brain to mouth filter. So instead of asking if the thief was implying something, he just grunts out something unintelligible and accepts the offered hand. Scott helps him to his feet and pushes him toward the door, and Quill tiredly makes his way back to his room, mumbles a good night, and falls back into bed. He didn't even bother closing the door and Scott didn't seem to notice. He was probably just as tired as he was. _ _

_ _Thankfully, he wasn't woken up again until around eight, and that was only because Diana took his open door as an invitation to come in. When the little girl jumps onto his bed and crawls onto his back, Quill groans into his pillow when she bounces on him, announcing that Cassie made breakfast. The man reaches behind him to grab her and pull her onto the bed next to him, and Diana squirms in his firm hold as he tries to go back to sleep._ _

_ _"Nooooo! Get up Uncle Quill!"  
"First your dad, now you...you're so rude."  
"Your door was open!" Diana manages to squirm out of Quill's hold and crawls back onto his back and bounces up and down again. "Come on! Come on! Daddy said you and Uncle Scott are going to the com...compound with him!"  
Quill stuffs his face into his pillow. "Forget it."  
"Cassie!" Diana yells._ _

_ _A few moments later, Quill hears Diana giggle and then sighs with relief when the little girl finally ceases her bouncing and crawls off of his back. The relief was short lived though, because something _much heavier_ practically body slams him, and he groans at the weight difference. The new body sits on him comfortably, and Quill cracks a single eye open to look at the new burden and finds Cassie smirking down at him._ _

_ _"Get off." The man grumbles.  
"I slaved away to make you guys breakfast and this is how you thank me?" Cassie gasps dramatically.  
"Please, you love cooking."  
"Only when people eat and enjoy the food I cook."  
"I'll be up in a minute."_ _

_ _Quill closes his eye and relaxes when Cassie gets off of his back, thinking that maybe the girls took his word for it and were heading back to the kitchen. Wrong again. His blankets were thrown off and hands were at his side, and before he knew it, he was pushed off the bed (with some struggle because he wasn't exactly light) and Quill landed on the floor with a loud thud. _ _

_ _"This is abuse."  
"Now come eat." Cassie demands, and both of the girls finally leave Quill's room._ _

_ _The man heaves himself up to his feet and stretches with his arms over his head before making his way over to his dresser and pulling on a shirt. He was going to need a serious amount of coffee with the little amount of sleep he got, and that was one of the reasons that got him to leave his room. The other being that Cassie made breakfast and she was a better cook than Tony (who was decent to begin with) and _much better_ than Quill. He wasn't allowed to touch the oven or the stove. Sometimes he could touch the microwave though so he wasn't a total loss._ _

_ _Quill yawns and rubs the back of his neck as he leaves his room, but he wasn't very aware of his surroundings and ran right smack into Scott who had been passing by his room. The thief loses his balance, and completely by instinct, Quill reacts by reaching out as Scott falls backwards. As he loses his balance trying to help Scott, the pirate immediately pulls the younger man close and turns in the middle of the fall so that he's the one that painfully meets the floor with a groan. Scott lands safely on top of him as Quill blinks the stars out of his eyes, and when he can eventually see what mess he got himself into, his thoughts freeze and then derail. One of his hands still had Scott's head firmly pressed to his shoulder, but that wasn't the problem...it was where his other hand was placed. _ _

_ _Directly on Scott's ass._ _

_ _Quill's hands immediately fly off of the body on top of him and laid out to the sides. "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention!"  
Either Scott didn't notice where the pirate's hand had been or pretended not to because he snickered. "I wasn't either. I'm pretty sure I'm about as awake as you are. Thanks for taking the hit though."_ _

_ _Scott rolls off of Quill and back to his feet, and Quill carefully gets up and winces as he rubs his lower back._ _

_ _"I'm gonna feel that for the next week."_ _

_ _Scott laughs again and Quill shoves him in warning as they make their way downstairs and into the kitchen. They all enjoy a breakfast of pancakes and an assortment of sides, go back up to their respective rooms, and the men get dressed and pack an overnight bag. Tony had already called Steve and Natasha and got them caught up on his breakthrough, and now he was calling Pepper and Happy so they could take turns keeping an eye on Cassie and Diana while they attempted this time heist as Scott liked to call it. When Happy arrived, the other three men said their goodbyes to the girls, who got through it rather well and with very few tears, and just told them to be careful and get home soon. Cassie was aware of what they were trying to attempt, but Tony didn't want Diana to know because he didn't want her to get her hopes up in case it didn't work. Quill made sure he was wearing the necklaces the girls made him before they packed up the car and left, and he and Scott dozed on the ride to the compound._ _

_ _Quill was pretty sure that Tony was running on a lot of coffee right now, so he didn't fall asleep completely in case he needed to react. They made it to the Avengers compound safely though, and the next thing he knew, Quill was with Steve, Natasha, and Bruce at some controls, and Scott was standing in front of what they called a Quantum Tunnel in a weird suit. He hasn't really been paying attention, but they said something about a test drive, and Tony was elsewhere in the property doing who knows what._ _

_ _"Ready Scott?" Bruce asks.  
"As I'll ever be." The thief responds a little anxiously.  
"Alright. Going quantum in three...two...one…"_ _

_ _And then Scott was gone and Quill blinked. He wasn't paying attention before but he definitely was now. Especially when a kid came back in Scott's place._ _

_ _"Is that Scott?" Natasha asks.  
"Yes it's Scott!" The kid says heatedly before getting sucked back into the tunnel._ _

_ _Then an old man replaced the kid. Quill's mouth opened as he tried to process what was happening, but then the old man disappeared. Everyone stared when a baby took the old man's place._ _

_ _"It's a baby." Steve states.  
"It's Scott." Bruce says._ _

_ _Oh hell no._ _

_ _"Get him back!" Quill orders the scientist.  
"What? He'll grow!"  
"Bring Scott back _now_!" The pirate nearly growls and Bruce flips a few switches after baby Scott gets sucked back into the tunnel.  
"Nat, kill the power when I say!" Bruce shouts, and the assassin rushes over to the lever as he flips a few more switches. "Now!"_ _

_ _Natasha pulls the lever down and to everyone's relief, Scott comes back at his normal age, looking a little frazzled and uncomfortable._ _

_ _"Somebody peed my pants. I...I don't know if it was baby-me or old-me." Then a blush adorns the thief's cheeks at his next admission. "Or just me-me."_ _

_ _Quill bursts into laughter as Bruce announces their test being time travel, and Tony approaches the group as the pirate attempts to pull himself together after Scott gives him a dirty look._ _

_ _"Did you guys seriously do a test run without the model I built?" The engineer asks with exasperation and Quill starts laughing again.  
"Shut up Spaceman." Scott grumbles.  
"Thumbelina, get into some clean clothes and burn that suit." Tony says.  
"With pleasure."_ _

_ _Quill calms from his laughter again and follows Scott to their shared room and the younger asks him to get him some clothes from his bag while he takes a quick shower. Some of the rooms had been converted to storage and whatnot so most of them had to share a room, and Quill was positive that Tony stuck him and Scott together on purpose. Maybe he was hoping it would start something between the two thieves, but Quill wasn't holding his breath. It was distracting though. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping well tonight just for the fact that Scott would be sleeping in the other bed ten feet away._ _

_ _He really hoped his brain didn't give him dirty dreams. Quill wouldn't be able to live with himself if he got one and got vocal. He already had a dream about a certain thief a few days ago and he couldn't look at Scott for the entire day. He knew Scott couldn't have known, but there was always that underlying fear._ _

_ _"Quill!" Said man jolts out of his thoughts and looks toward the bathroom door to find Scott standing in the doorway with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "My clothes?"  
Quill tears his gaze away from a drop of water making its way down the younger man's hip and clears his throat as he throws the man's clothes at him. "Yeah. Here."_ _

_ _The celestial nearly combusted on the spot when Scott didn't bother closing the bathroom door all the way. It's not like Quill could see anything, but the knowledge that a very unlikely gust of wind could open the door as Scott was getting dressed didn't help his imagination. Obviously. Like a gust of wind was going to suddenly flow into their room and open the door so Quill could get a strip show._ _

_ _"Oh my god, I need a drink." He whispers as the bathroom door is opened again by Scott, fully dressed and scrubbing at his hair with the towel.  
"You say something?"  
"Just thinking out loud." Quill looks over at Scott and grins. "So how's your back?"_ _

_ _Scott turns and glares at the older man before smacking the back of his head._ _


	4. Chapter 4

The small quantum tunnel that Scott had wouldn't be enough, so Tony started building a larger one with Scott's help as they waited for the rest of the team to arrive. Quill helped as well, but he just did the heavy lifting while Tony and Scott handled the engineering. Not that he had much choice. The moment Tony announced they were going to build a bigger tunnel, he looked at Quill and told him he was helping because he was 'freakishly strong' for a powerless god hybrid. 

Quill was pretty sure there was an insult in there somewhere.

"Flash Gordon, come lift this will you?" Tony calls from the skeletal structure of the tunnel.  
Quill sighs. "Sure why not."

He walks over and helps lift a panel for the billionaire to weld and distracts himself by looking around the large room. It was pretty empty since most of the others were out gathering the rest of their team members from all corners of the world, but Steve and Scott were still there. The captain was busy getting lunch together for everyone's imminent arrival, and Scott was sitting on a table fiddling with a circuit board in his lap. Quill quickly discovered that the younger thief had a tendency to puff out his cheeks when he got frustrated or annoyed with something he was working on, and he thought it was adorable. The pout that followed was just icing on the cake. Quill never thought he would look at another man and think any little things he did would be adorable. Sure, he's appreciated a man here and there, but Scott was a whole new ballgame...he had this unexplainable urge to protect him.

_He can protect himself_, Quill firmly reminds himself. He knew that, yet, a part of him refused to accept that. Was it maybe because Scott was Cassie's father? He was protective of her so maybe it was rolling over to Scott...but that wouldn't make sense because he was protective of Diana as well and he didn't have the urge to protect Tony. In fact. His mind was pretty content to leave the billionaire to his own devices.

For the most part.

He didn't want Diana to lose her dad too.

"Alright. You can let go now." Tony interrupts Quill's thoughts and they both move away from the panel. "Hey Stuart Little! How's that board coming?"  
"Just a second!" Scott shouts. After a little more fiddling, he lifts the circuit board from his lap, hops off the table, and walks over to them. "I had to rewire some things but it's good to go now."  
"Good. I'll get this wired in with the rest." Tony climbs back through the skeletal structure as Steve walks into the room with a single white bag and holds it up.  
"Soup's on!"  
Quill snorts. "That's not going to feed all of us."  
"Of course not. The rest is in the kitchen." Steve throws the bag at Quill and the pirate barely manages to hold it to his chest. Scott grabs the bag from him and looks through it with a growing smile. "You got tacos!"  
Quill snatches the bag from him and holds it up out of the younger's reach. "Those are all mine."  
"Do _not_ test me when it comes to tacos Spaceman!"  
"Or what?" Quill taunts.

Something he instantly regretted because Scott proceeded to punch him in the ribs. Quill groans and hunches over to clutch at complaining muscles and the thief grabs the now lowered bag. He grabs a couple of tacos before handing the bag back to Quill and smirks at the older man before striding away with his food. The punch didn't hurt _that_ bad, but it would definitely make Quill think twice in the future. Hopefully there would be a future whether or not Scott remained just a friend.

"He did warn you." Tony points out. "Leave a couple of those on the table for me will you? Go eat with your boyfriend."  
Quill turns and glares at the engineer. "He's not-I'm going to throw them at you and you can eat them off the floor asshole!"  
"Chill Porcupine. Not everyone knows about your little crush on him."

Quill sighs heavily and pulls a couple of tacos out of the bag and sets them on the table per Tony's request before walking away.

"Yet."

The pirate ignores Tony as he hears the unmistakable sounds of his ship, walks out to the back, and watches with sympathy when Rhodey lands in front of Scott and scares the man of his lunch. Just from where Scott was sitting, Quill was sure part of the tacos were blown away by the ship as it landed. To think the younger went to such lengths to get his food and then have them blown away.

He pulls another two out of the bag he's holding and hands them to Scott, and just when he sits down and pulls out the three leftover, he freezes. There were _two_ ships sitting on the field, and one of them he was sure had been abandoned on a planet years ago. Half of it had been missing then, but now it was sitting thirty yards away, and in one piece.

"No way." Quill gasps out and Scott gives him a look from beside him.  
Rocket steps onto the grass and looks between Quill and the second, smaller ship. "You're just now seeing that? It's been here for the past year."

The pirate abandons his tacos on the bench next to Scott and jogs over to The Milano with a look of awe as he looks it over. Quill honestly thought he would never see it again. When it had been abandoned, he considered it gone because there was no doubt some junkers would come across it and strip it of anything valuable, but it was there. When he went inside, he found that almost everything was still there.

"You're welcome Starmunch!" Rocket calls from outside the ship.

Quill would thank him later, even if he did call him Starmunch. He'd call him a trash panda and call it even anyway. He was too busy getting himself reacquainted with his ship right now. 

"I was nice enough not to eat these perfectly good tacos you left behind. Monster." Scott says from the mouth of the ship before stepping in further and handing the food over to Quill.  
"Right. Food. Thanks." Quill replies absently as he sits at the table.

Scott stands nearby as Quill sits back in his chair and throws his feet up onto the table, and he unwraps his taco to take a bite. It was polished off in the span of a minute and Quill only slowed down halfway through his second before looking up at Scott. He wipes his lower lip free of sauce with his thumb and sucks it off as the younger looks around and then raises an eyebrow in question when the thief looks down at him.

"So...what's so special about this ship?" He asks. "Isn't the other one yours?"  
"Yeah, but everyone uses that one. This is _mine_. It always has been from the beginning. Memories...you know?" Scott nods and Quill finishes his second taco before continuing. "We had to abandon it on a planet after we crashed."  
"It couldn't be fixed?"

Quill pauses his unwrapping of his third taco, and shrugs before resuming and taking a bite. It was then he told the story of his heritage. How he found his father, what said father planned to do, and how they had to kill Ego to keep him from taking over the universe. Scott sat in the chair next to him as Quill rambled, and remained quiet throughout the whole story. In the back of his mind, Quill wondered if Scott actually cared or if he was just being considerate and letting the powerless celestial air out his laundry. The second thought had Quill's heart clenching.

But Scott surprised him.

"You're sure you don't have those powers anymore?" He asks and Quill nods.  
"Yeah. I watched the light in my hands disappear. And yes, I've tried just to make sure." He says when Scott opens his mouth. "Nothing. Except maybe the strength and possible longevity." Quill finally finishes his lunch and looks up at the roof of his ship.  
"Do you miss space?" The man beside him asks quietly.  
"Not like I thought I would." Quill admits. "My father figure died because of Ego, and Thanos was kind of the last straw for me. Drax, Mantis, Groot...they're gone because of these damn stones...and he killed Gamora for one of them. She was my best friend...and I thought I loved her, but…" He trails off and Scott tilts his head curiously.  
"But what?"  
"Well, looking back after recent events, I realized it wasn't romantic love. She was just a good friend." Quill huffs in amusement. "It's probably a good thing. She yelled at me a lot so that wouldn't have been a healthy relationship. She deserved better than me."  
"You shouldn't sell yourself short. Anyone would be lucky to have you." Scott reassures him and Quill stretches as he drops his feet to the floor with a thunk.  
"Yeah, well, if you know anyone, be sure to send them my way." The pirate says with a chuckle as he stands. "Want a tour?"

Scott gave him an unreadable look for a few moments before it morphs into a smile and he stands up as well. Quill shows him around both the Milano as well as the larger ship, and he slips into the captain's quarters to grab a few things before Rocket took the ship out again. Specifically the first mixtape his mother had given him. Unfortunately, Ego had destroyed the second one along with his walkman, but he missed listening to the first one. Now that he had the Milano back, he could listen to it again. He didn't have much faith that Tony had something sitting around that would play the tape because the man was too advanced.

"You really were out of touch if that's what you've been listening to for thirty years." Scott comments from the doorway.  
"It's literally the last thing I have left from my mother. I had no way of listening to it until now."

Quill passes by Scott and motions for the other man to follow him as he walks back to the Milano, and then walks straight for the cassette player built into the ship. He pops the tape in and presses play, and quickly loses himself in the familiar music when it starts up. Even after thirty years of endlessly listening to the same songs over and over again, he never got sick of it. It was nice to have a few happy memories returned to him.

When a slower song comes on, Quill turns to Scott and smirks. "Dance with me."  
Scott scrunches his nose. "It's a slow song."  
"And?" Quill grabs Scott's hand and pulls him closer. "I'll even lead."  
"I'm capable of leading-"  
"Nope. Too bad. I'm taller and older." The pirate quips and grins when Scott scowls up at him.  
"Be careful Spaceman. People will start to think you're flirting with me."

Quill's heart jumps up into his throat but he swallows it down when Scott allows the older man to lead them. It surprisingly didn't take very long for the pair to fall into an easy rhythm, and Quill barely noticed how easily they moved around the open area of the ship they were dancing in. He noticed just enough to remember what his mother told him as a child.

_Dancing is an exercise of trust. The easier you move, the more your partner trusts you._

He had no idea if it was true, but he still liked the idea that Scott trusted him. That they flowed around so smoothly because the younger thief trusted that Quill wouldn't let go or knock him into anything. Maybe it was the music, the heat building up between their _almost_ touching bodies, or even the damn near golden eyes he finally got to see when Scott made eye contact...Quill didn't know. But something gave him the courage to open his mouth and whisper three words that had those golden eyes widening.

"Maybe I am."

He tilts his head down in what seemed like slow motion and he hears the moment Scott sucks in a breath. He wasn't pulling away or pushing Quill away so he took that as permission to proceed. When Quill was a hair's breadth away from kissing Scott, a shout had them jumping away from each other as Rhodey walks into view.

"Did you guys hear me? Tones says lunch break is over. Time to get back to work on the tunnel."  
Quill rubs the back of his neck. "Sorry. Music was going and we were talking and touring the ship."

It wasn't a lie and the colonel seemed to accept it and walks away with a final warning to get back inside, and Quill looks over at Scott. Except the man was already halfway down the ramp, covering his mouth with his hand, and sporting a bright red blush that reached his ears. As soon as both Rhodey and Scott are out of sight, Quill groans and drops into the nearest chair and leans forward to bury his face in his hands. He had no idea what was going to happen now. His feelings were out in the open for Scott, and while He didn't run as Quill was making his move, he fled after the interruption. Was Scott glad nothing happened? Or was he maybe disappointed? Quill was disappointed, that was for sure. 

He was so damn close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so obviously it's not the song that was playing, but I was listening to Unconditionally by Katy Perry while writing that last part.
> 
> I f***ing love that song.


	5. Chapter 5

Somehow over the next few days, Quill didn't get a moment alone with Scott. The closer they got done to finishing the larger tunnel, the harder they worked. Scott ended up applying the finishing touches to it so Tony could work on making suits fit for time travel, and so the thief worked into the early morning hours for the last couple of days before having to call it a night when he started nodding off when he was standing up. Usually around two or three in the morning, Scott would drag himself into their room and collapse onto his bed, falling asleep before he actually hit the pillow. Quill always feigned sleep when the younger entered because he didn't want to stress out Scott because of their interrupted moment a couple of days ago, but he always woke up when the door opened. It was frustrating not being able to get a second alone with Scott where they wouldn't be heard, but Quill knew that this heist they were going to try was more important than his crush. He couldn't even call it a budding romance since Scott did seem to be avoiding being alone with him. Quill was starting to wonder if he crossed a line on the ship.

But Scott had every opportunity to get away or tell Quill no. That kiss had been so close to happening that it still frustrated the pirate to no end. He didn't get much sleep because of it. But then the tunnel was finally completed and they were standing around as Tony and Nebula were double checking the new time suit that Scott was currently wearing. Since he was most familiar with the Quantum Realm, it made sense to have him do the test runs, but he looked like he was internally freaking out. Scott confirmed Quill's suspicions not even two minutes later.

"I can't do this." Scott breathes out.  
"I'm game." The new voice has Quill turning and the rest looking up to find Clint leaning against the doorway. The archer looks up at Quill and raises an eyebrow. "Who the hell are you?"  
"Peter Quill. Starlord. Guardian of the Galaxy...take your pick." Quill drawls.  
Bruce shakes his head. "Everyone just calls him Quill."  
Clint walks over to the pirate and pats his bicep with an impressed glance. "You're a big guy, aren't you? Almost as big as Thor. What's the difference between you two? An inch?"  
"And a few pounds." Quill jests and Clint drops his hand.

Neither noticed the glare Scott was giving the archer, and when Clint finally turned to request the suit from the thief, the glare was gone. Scott removes the nanosuit after the push of a button sends the nanites back into a housing unit, and he hands it over to Clint before standing next to Quill. The pirate practically preened at the action, but outwardly he kept his poker face as Clint put on the suit. The fact that Scott willingly stood beside him was a good sign right? 

"Let me ask you something..." Rhodey starts. "If we can do this...go back in time...why don't we just find baby Thanos you know and…?"

The colonel makes a few hand gestures that lead into a tying motion and Bruce points at him with a look of surprise.

"First of all, that's horrible."  
"It's _Thanos_!" Rhodey defends.  
"Secondly, time doesn't work that way! Changing the past doesn't change the future!"  
Quill opens his mouth but Scott beats him to it. "Look. We go back and get the stones before Thanos gets them...Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved!"

Both Rhodey and Quill point at Scott with a look to the scientist.

"Bingo." Clint says.  
"That's not how it works." Nebula hisses out as she continues calibrating the suit.  
"Well that's not what I heard." He mumbles.  
"Who? Who told you that?" Bruce asks and Rhodey holds up his hand to count off examples.  
"Star Trek...Terminator...Time Cop...Time After Time…"  
"Quantum Leap." Scott throws in.  
"...A Wrinkle In Time...Somewhere In Time…"  
"Hot Tub Time Machine." Quill adds and Rhodey echoes him.  
"Basically any movie that deals with time travel." The colonel argues.  
"Die Hard--no that's not one." Scott says and then punches Quill in the ribs when the pirate snickers at the false example.  
"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true. Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past! Which can't now be changed by your new future!"  
"Exactly." Nebula says.

Silence hangs in the air for a few moments as they process the new information and then Scott finally breaks it.

"So Back To The Future is a bunch of bullshit?" He whispers.

Quill couldn't help himself. He laughed again. Scott didn't hit him again, but a quick glance at the younger was enough to know that the thief was refraining himself. When Clint was ready to go, they all went out to the newly finished tunnel, and Scott makes a detour into the kitchen. Tony steps off the tunnel after giving it one more thorough check, and Clint takes his place as everyone positions themselves behind the control panel. As Bruce sends him into the Quantum realm, Scott comes back from the kitchen with his hands full of orange slices and Quill gives him a look of confusion.

"What's with the oranges?"  
"Clint's going to want them."

He didn't bother questioning Scott further, but that was partially because Clint had come back with a shout from his test run. Natasha rushes up onto the platform to help Clint to his feet and check him over, and Tony and Scott follow. The archer nods at Nat's questions about his health, and then looks down at the baseball mitt in his hand before tossing it to Tony and confirming that the time travel worked. Tony smiles and has everyone make their way to the meeting room to start the next step of their plan, and Scott relinquishes the oranges in his hands to Clint. The man eats them gratefully and Quill follows everyone into a different room while Tony asks FRIDAY to order some lunch for everyone.

While they wait for lunch to arrive, they get settled around the room to talk about where each infinity stone can be found, Thor bring the first to give them information about the reality stone. Or at least attempt to. The picture of Jane Foster distracted him and made him emotional so Tony had to interfere and ask him to sit back down and calm down. Food arrived then, so once they got the Chinese passed around to everyone at the table (and giving Thor his requested Bloody Mary), they continued their talk.

"Alright Quill. You're the one who stole the Power Stone. What do we need to know?"   
Rocket garners the pirate's attention after Quill hands the container of rice to Scott.

He knew he couldn't go get the stone himself, because despite time travel not being quite like the movies, they didn't want to risk having any of them being seen by their past selves. It would still likely cause problems.

"I stole it from Morag. It's inside a temple, locked by the way, and sits behind a force field that disintegrates anything it touches." Quill explains before taking a bite of an eggroll.  
"How did you get it then?" Natasha asks.  
Quill swallows before replying. "The stone is in a metal sphere. I used a really strong magnet."  
"How about getting inside the temple itself?" Steve wonders.  
"If you go while I'm there, I have a sort of lockpick in my bag. That will get you in."

With that information, and the year, they move on to another stone so Quill can focus more on the food in front of him...and the fact that Scott was swiping a pot sticker from his plate. Quill just rolls his eyes and allows it and reaches across the table to grab the container to get more, but then scowls when he finds it empty. He tosses the empty box at Scott who smiles sheepishly at him for the small theft and then grabs something else to fill his plate as Nebula continues on about the Soul Stone.

"...dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. It's where Thanos murdered my sister." The woman explains, and a heavy silence fills the air when everyone stops eating to look up at her.  
"Not it." Quill and Scott mutter simultaneously, high five each other, and then go back to eating.

Maybe their almost kiss had created this unspoken thing? Scott obviously had enough time to come to terms with what happened between them and was back to...well...they were back to their dance. Except it wasn't as tense. Scott knew what was going on, but Quill was still wondering what was going on in the younger's head. Did he just want to stay friends? Was he open to trying to take their relationship further? He had no idea, but it was still better than Scott avoiding him. He'd take friendship over nothing any day.

They all took the time to plan out how they were going to get the stones for the rest of the day and throughout the night, and then took the day after to rest. They had a plan, they had their teams, and now they were charging their batteries. Quill found himself in his room on the Milano, laying back on his bed, and tossing a ball up into the air and then catching it when it came back down. He repeated that over and over as he thought more about Scott's actions toward him, and he wondered why he didn't just go up to the younger man and ask. Quill wasn't known to just sit and wonder. He always came out and said what he needed to whether his brain to mouth filter worked or not.

Maybe this is what it meant for him to be serious about someone. It still blew his mind when he thought about the fact that he'd only known Scott for a few weeks, but there were people he knew for _years_ that never made him feel this way. No butterflies, no urge to protect, no happiness from just seeing them smile...Quill was a sucker. 

And he couldn't even argue with himself about it because he knew it was true.

"This is probably going to be a really stupid question--" Scott says from the doorway and Quill jumps.  
He misses the ball and he groans when it falls down to hit his forehead, sits up, and he rubs at the protesting skin as he looks at Scott. "What the hell--how long have you been standing there?!"  
"Not long." Scott admits and avoids Quill's gaze by looking at the floor. "Were you being serious?"

The pirate stops rubbing his forehead and drops his hand to look at Scott properly. He knew the younger was referring to a couple of days ago, and Quill decided it was now or never. This whole thing between him and Scott was distracting and he needed to know where things stood. So he swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, slowly approaches Scott, and takes the risk of reaching down to gently grasp one of his hands. 

Scott didn't pull away.

"Very serious...and not just about the flirting." Quill nearly purrs the words out and smiles when Scott looks up at him in surprise. "I want to try us...but if you don't want that and just want to stay friends, I can live with that. You were my best friend first and I don't want to lose that--"  
"Quill." Scott interrupts and the pirate stops rambling to look into hazel eyes. "Just finish what you started."

That was all the permission Quill needed to lower his head and _finally_ kiss Scott...and it was better than he imagined. Not only did Scott smell of mint and oranges, but he even _tasted_ like it, and he was living for it. Quill slowly creeps forward and nudges Scott until his back hits the wall beside them, and the sound of a light gasp escaping the younger man goes straight to the pirate's cock. He groans as Scott's free hand slips under his shirt to graze against the abdominal muscles underneath, and pins the younger between himself and the wall before wedging his knee between Scott's legs.

A whimper slips from Scott's throat at the light pressure to his groin, and Quill plunges his tongue into his mouth. The citrusy mint flavor was even more potent on Scott's tongue and before Quill realized it, he was sucking on both tongue and lower lip with no regards to their need for air. He did eventually move from Scott's mouth to his neck, and the younger _moaned_ when Quill started sucking a hickey onto it. The pirate pulls away with a quiet pop and gently glides his tongue across the dark bruise, pulling away with a smug grin when Scott shudders at the swipe.

"If I knew it was going to be like that...I would have come to you sooner." Scott breathes out and Quill chuckles.  
"Yeah?" He gently rubs his knee against Scott's groin and the younger inhales sharply as he throws his head back and it connects with the wall with a dull thump.  
"Did you leave a hickey?"  
Quill smirks. "Maybe."  
Scott pulls his hand out from under Quill's shirt and uses it pulls the man's head back down to his neck. "You better make sure."  
"Whatever you want baby." Quill purrs into his ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, things are still the same with my AU about Bruce. He doesn't merge with Hulk. They just have an understanding and switch easier.


	6. Chapter 6

Nothing went further than the steamy makeout sessions, and they did eventually return to their room in the compound, but Scott obviously had a lot on his mind. He tossed and turned in his bed while in the throes of a nightmare, and Quill had woken up when Scott cried out in his sleep. He ignored the impulse to get up and wake Scott from his nightmare, but if it got too severe, he would. But he waited. The tossing and turning didn't escalate at first, but then it did, and just as Quill was about to get up, Scott woke and sat up in his bed. The pirate relaxes back into his bed with the knowledge that the younger thief was finally free of his nightmare, but then he felt a dip in the mattress. Scott must have needed the security of having someone closer than a few feet away and that was fine. It wasn't the first time they slept in the same bed. Back at the lake house, they constantly fell asleep watching movies, whether it was on the couch or either of their bedrooms, and this was really no different. 

The only thing different was that Scott came to his bed for comfort from a nightmare instead of falling asleep on it because of convenience during a movie. That was still fine though. If crawling into bed next to Quill helped Scott sleep, the pirate wouldn't deprive him of that comfort. As he tried to go back to sleep, the tossing and turning continued on Scott's end, until finally he settled down and got comfortable. Wishful thinking. Quill could feel the tension and stress coming off of Scott in waves and there was no way Scott was falling asleep like that. So he threw caution to the wind as he turned onto his side to face Scott, curled his arm around the younger's waist, and pulled him against his chest. They may have slept in the same bed multiple times, but they never cuddled. They always stayed on their respective sides.

But it was obviously what Scott needed, because he relaxed almost instantly. Maybe the weight of Quill's arm helped anchor Scott to reality and chased away the last of his nightmare. Whatever the reason, he wasn't moving away or complaining so Quill was finally able to fall back asleep now that Scott was taken care of.

"Quill." Quill grunts tiredly. "I can't get up Spaceman. Let me go."

_Now_ Scott was complaining? He seemed perfectly content just a minute ago. Quill releases him though and turns onto his stomach to bury his face into his pillow and crush it in a tight hug, and Scott gently jostles his shoulder.

"Come on. We'll miss breakfast."

Breakfast? Was Scott insane? It was the middle of the--

Quill lifts his upper body and looks around the room blearily, and the light streaming through the window was proof enough that Scott was not crazy. He just unfortunately had the kind of sleep where it felt like he just blinked, and he couldn't even enjoy spooning Scott. Who knew when that would happen again? This whole time heist they would be going on in just a couple of hours could be the end of everything, or one of them...a thought that had Quill tensing in realization. Maybe that was the subject of Scott's nightmares.

"_Quill!_"  
"Alright, alright." The older man grouses and throws the sheets off before getting up and shoving Scott. "Hope you like cold water."

He locks himself into the bathroom before Scott can react and sniggers when the thief mumbles something along the lines of "bastard" as he sits to wait for his turn in the shower. Even though Quill had threatened cold water, it was nearly impossible to actually use all the hot water for the compound. He could take a shower for hours and the water would still run hot. Quill made it quick anyway because he very much wanted bacon as part of his breakfast and wouldn't put it past any of the others to eat it all before he and Scott even made it to the kitchen. Once clean, dry, and dressed, Quill heads out of the room and to the dining area and immediately piles food onto his plate before joining the rest of the team at the table.

"After you finish eating, suit up and meet at the tunnel. The sooner we get this over with the better." Tony says to everyone once Scott finally walks in. "I can't believe--" The engineer stops his fork halfway to his mouth when Scott sits down in the empty seat beside Quill.  
"Scott...did you get mauled by a raccoon?" Steve asks.  
Oh this was an opportunity that Quill _was not_ going to pass up. "Rocket! I thought we talked about this! I told you not to attack people for no reason!"  
"WHAT?! I didn't do that!" Rocket screams as he motions toward the very large bruise on Scott's neck and shoulder.

Quill may have gotten carried away yesterday.

"Steve said it was a raccoon-"  
"I'm not a raccoon!"  
"Sorry. Trash panda." Quill corrects sarcastically.  
"Is this because I called you Starmunch?"  
"Now it is."  
"Hey!" Tony yells. "Cool it! Most of us know that Thumbelina is notorious for tripping over his own feet."  
Scott pouts. "Hey, now."  
"Don't deny it. Now eat and go get ready!"

When the attention is drawn away from Scott (and Quill) the two look at each other out of the corner of their eyes and hide smirks from the others by looking down at their plates. Once breakfast was consumed, Quill and Scott returned to their room to suit up and it was then they realized that they had never seen the other wearing their battle gear. It was always casual clothes and pajamas, and for a few minutes, the time suit that Scott wore. Quill's gear was still on the casual side with a black shirt, red leather jacket and pants, and his jet boots (and of course the necklaces the girls gave him), and Scott's suit was similar to the time suit. 

After hooking his guns to his pants, they headed out to the back and Quill points to the bigger ship. Scott nods and takes one of his shrinking disks out of his belt, throws it at the ship, and they watch as it shrinks to a much more portable size. Quill walks over to it and picks it up, and they return back inside to join the rest of the team at the tunnel.

"You better bring this back the same way I'm giving it to you." Quill threatens Clint and the archer scoffs.  
"Yeah. Sure. You got it big guy."  
"That's reassuring." Quill gripes sarcastically as he takes his place between Scott and Rocket.

After everyone is in position, Steve gives a motivating speech and then they all activate their time suits before Bruce activates the tunnel and they're thrown into the Quantum Realm. Quill follows Tony, Steve, Scott, and Bruce through a branch of time and they all soon find themselves in New York during the Chitauri invasion. They barely find their footing when Past Hulk passes by the alley they landed in, smashing stray aliens, and they look at Bruce who covers his face in embarrassment.

"You're not going to do that to me are you?" The pirate asks.  
"No. The Hulk and I...have an understanding." Bruce replies with a fading blush.  
"Alright. Porcupine and Banner will go after the Time Stone. The rest of us will get the Space and Mind Stones." Tony confirms and they nod before splitting up.

Bruce allows the Hulk to take over and Quill follows him downtown to the Sanctum on Bleeker Street. They land on the roof of the Sanctum and head toward the door until a woman speaks up from a few feet beside them.

"I'd be careful going that way. We just had the floors waxed."  
Quill and Bruce turn toward the Ancient one and walk a little closer to her before Bruce speaks up. "We're looking for Doctor Strange."  
"You're about five years too early. Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way." She points in the opposite direction and then looks back at them. "What do you want from him?"  
Quill notices the familiar necklace around the woman's neck and points at it. "That, actually."  
The Ancient One looks down at the Eye of Agamotto. "Ah! I'm afraid not."  
"Sorry...but we weren't asking."

Bruce approaches the sorcerer and reaches out to take the necklace, but she shoves her hand against the Hulk's chest, shoving Bruce's astral form out of his body. Quill shouts out in surprise and holds his hands up toward the woman in a placating motion in the hopes that she wouldn't do the same to him. She thankfully seemed content to place Hulk's body on a nearby lawn chair before she turns back to Bruce in his astral form and Quill.

"Let's start over, shall we?"

Getting the Time Stone from the Ancient One was like pulling teeth. Bruce even resorted to begging and when she mentioned that handing the stone over would doom her timeline, Quill left it to the scientist to try and convince her to part with it. Bruce understood time travel and timelines so he folded his arms and let them argue over the consequences of what they were trying to do. They already knew for the most part, and Bruce even gave her a solution to branching realities. Their survivability was the next thing to be questioned and Bruce promised that too. That _someone_ would return the stones.

"It is the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone." The Ancient One says and Quill's head snaps up as he unfolds his arms.  
"Then why the hell did Strange give it away?!" The pirate asks.  
The sorcerer looks over at him. "What did you say?"  
"He gave it away. To Thanos. I was there."  
"Willingly?"  
"Yeah."  
"Why?"  
Quill snorts. "Hell if I know. He looked into over fourteen million futures, but maybe he made a mistake."  
The Ancient One stares at him for a few moments. "...or I did."

She pulls Hulk's body back toward Bruce, rejoining the two, and opens the Eye of Agamotto to hand the Time Stone over to him. She and Bruce exchange a few more words, and she emphasizes the fact that all of the realities they take the stones from are counting on them to survive. To return them to their rightful places when they're done. Bruce simply nods and turns toward Quill so they can meet up with the others, but the Ancient One calls out to the pirate.

"Mr. Quill...I sense a great power from you."  
He shrugs. "Maybe in the past, but those powers are gone now."  
"I wouldn't be so sure. You were not given your powers. You were born with them. I think with the right motivation, you could unlock them again." She says and Quill stares at her.  
"But they disappeared when I killed my father!"  
"No. They went dormant. You focused on his light, when in reality you have your own. You just need to find out how to reawaken those abilities. Find a trigger."

Quill glances between his hands and the woman, and nods before leaving with Bruce to meet back with the other three. When they got back to the alley though, they only found Scott looking agitated and holding a scepter. 

"Where are Steve and Tony?" Bruce asks after he returns to normal.  
"We screwed up. Then Tony got an idea and they went further back in time!" Scott snarks. "Tony said there's a place to get the Tesseract _and_ more particles and they took that risk-"  
"Scott." Quill interrupts the thief's panicked ranting. "Breathe."  
Scott huffs and Bruce rubs his eyes. "We can't do anything about it now. Let's just sync up and get back to the compound with the stones we have."

Scott grunts in frustration but nods and they reactivate their time suits so they can press the button that will return them to their original time. They travel through the Quantum Realm again to get back to the compound, and when they get back, everyone (including Tony and Steve) appears with them at the same time and they look at each other with grins.

"Are you saying this actually worked?" Rhodey asks.

The happy victory was short-lived though when Clint fell to his knees in despair. Quill didn't need to look around to realize that they were missing one person.

Natasha didn't come back.

"Clint...where's Nat?" Bruce asks.

That night was quieter than usual as everyone grieved in their own way over their friend. Their _family_. For Quill, it was Gamora all over again. He lost another friend to the Soul Stone and for a minute, he wondered if this was all worth it. When the original Avengers came back from outside, they all reluctantly agreed that Nat wouldn't want them to give up now. That it would be an insult to her and her sacrifice if they didn't finish what they started. So while Tony, Bruce, and Rocket built a gauntlet to hold the infinity stones, everyone else went to bed with heavy hearts.

Quill wasn't even surprised when Scott slipped into bed next to him. He just pulled him close as he did the night before, and when the younger thief fell asleep, he carefully pried himself from Scott and sat up to look at his hands. He wondered if he really did still have his Celestial powers and tried focusing on the inner light the sorcerer said he had...but nothing. Not even a flicker. Maybe it was a false hope and she was mistaken. It didn't matter either way, he's lived this long without them and could fight just fine.

With that acceptance, Quill laid back down and fell asleep with his arm back around the younger thief at his side.


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone stood around the gauntlet looking at it like it was going to suddenly jump up and bite them...or snap its own fingers. These were the Infinity Stones. Quill wouldn't be surprised if the gauntlet _did_ snap its fingers by itself. That would definitely be better than having one of them do it and that's what they were trying to decide. Who would do it? If Quill had his powers, he might be willing to volunteer, but he didn't so he wasn't really going to offer. Thor volunteered because of his powers but Tony was quick to veto that with the reason that the god wasn't it the right state of mind to do it. Bruce was the one who said he had to be the one to do it as the Hulk. The stones were mostly gamma radiation and that was how the Hulk came to be so it made sense. Everyone agrees and suits up to prepare for...anything...and Quill subconsciously positions himself a little in front of Scott. He wasn't fully in front of the man but the idea that he possibly still had his powers meant he might still be immortal, which meant he could take a hit better than Scott if it ended up being true.

He didn't miss the way some of the other Avengers looked at him but he pretended not to notice. They had their suspicions, but now wasn't the time to question him about it and they all knew it. Assuming everything went well and this worked, Quill would no doubt be questioned later. Much later. If this worked, everyone would be reunited with friends and family, and the suspicions of Quill and Scott would be shoved far back into everyone's minds. Which was just fine with him since he wasn't quite sure what his relationship with Scott was anyway.

Quill shakes the thought away as Bruce once again turns into the Hulk and then picks up the gauntlet after some hesitation. The metal expands over his arm as he slowly slips his hand into it, and then Hulk falls to his knees in pain when the stones light up in reaction to organic matter. Trails of burnt skin quickly cover Hulk's arm as he groans in pain, but reassures Thor that he can keep going when the god starts demanding that he needs to take it off. With an extreme amount of effort, Hulk lifts up his arm with the help of his other hand and just before he snaps, Quill moves fully in front of Scott as a bright light temporarily blinds them. When the light fades, the gauntlet slips off of the Hulk's arm and he falls back, and Tony rushes to his side to apply a medical spray to burnt flash while Clint kicks the gauntlet away. As the team helps their comrade, Quill subconsciously takes note of Scott leaving the room once Tony's 'Barn Door Protocol' is lifted, and looks toward one of the nearby tables when a phone starts vibrating. 

"Guys...I think it worked." Scott whispers from the other room as Clint answers his phone.

Quill looks back at the Hulk, following his gaze upward to the window above them when the monster's eyes widen, and he turns toward Scott when he sees a large spaceship shooting a missile at the building.

"Sc-" The pirate tries to warn, but the missile hits and he is knocked unconscious for a few minutes until he feels someone smacking his face.  
"Come on big guy." Clint's voice cuts through the haze and Quill groans. "That's it."

Quill blinks his eyes open and winces at the feeling of rock and metal digging into his back, but thankfully not piercing skin, and finds Clint crouching in front of him. With a half smile and a firm pat on the pirate's shoulder, the archer looks to the side as Quill gets to his feet, and brushes away some rubble to pick up the gauntlet that had been buried with them. As Quill rubs dirt and grime off of his face, both he and Clint froze at the sound of low growling and then look down the darkened tunnel. Clint slowly pulls out an arrow and sends it flying through the tunnel to light it up and the brief light shows a group of snarling aliens on the walls of the tunnel.

"Shit. Run!" Clint yells, and the two take off in the opposite direction.

While the archer planted arrows through the tunnel, Quill looked for a way out and stopped when he reached a dead end. Clint waves for him to move into the bit of tunnel connected to the one they're in, and when he does, Quill happens to look up and find a way up through a hole above him. Immediately he links his hands as Clint rounds the corner and the bomb arrows go off, and with only a bit of scepticism on the archer's face, he steps into the pirate's hands and Quill boosts him up the next level. It was no small distance, but he put faith into what the Ancient One said and that he would have his superhuman strength, and successfully got Clint through an escape. He still had to deal with the aliens that survived the blast though, so he pulls out his guns and shoots the aliens running up to him and unclips a grenade from his belt to throw at the remaining ones. As soon as he throws the grenade, he flies up through the hole and the blast radius throws him the rest of the way, where he lands heavily next to Clint with a loud groan.

"How are you so strong?" Clint asks through heavy breaths.  
"It's a long story dude."  
Clint wheezes through a chuckle until Nebula steps next to them. "Hey...we know you." He hands the gauntlet up to the woman who takes it and presses the comm in her ear.  
"Father. I have the stones."

Clint and Quill look up in alarm. What the actual fuck? Was Nebula a double agent?

"What?!" Clint asks incredulously and Nebula points a gun at the archer.  
"Stop."

Oh...Quill knew that voice. There was no way…

He looks over at the exit and watches Gamora walk in pointing her own gun at Nebula.

"What the hell? Gamora?!" He questions but she ignores him.  
"You're betraying us." Nebula says and then suddenly points her gun from Clint to...another Nebula? That was when Quill realized that there must have been some sort of switch during the heist.  
"You don't have to do this." Present Nebula says with her hands up.

Quill elbows Clint and motions toward a wall and they both slip out of the way and behind it to watch whatever this was play out. Present Nebula and Past Gamora (Quill was relatively certain she was not the friend he knew) tried to talk Past Nebula down, but in the end she was killed for attempting to kill Gamora. As Clint went back to retrieve the gauntlet, Gamora paused long enough to look at Quill, but he saw no recognition in her eyes. It truly was her past self, and he really did lose his friend...someone he thought he had feelings for but after meeting Scott, he realized he and Gamora just had a close friendship. It was love, but not romantic love. Not like he had with Scott.

Oh.

Well this was an inopportune time to realize that. Especially when he didn't know if the younger thief survived the attack on the compound. That thought alone was heartbreaking. He knew he should have said something.

"Thanos is here...with an army." Nebula informs them.  
"Of course he is." Quill gripes angrily. "Nothing can ever be easy."

He brushes past the women to join their own growing army that file out from multiple portals, and they follow until Quill stops by Tony. Just when he thought that everyone had arrived, the earth rumbles and a building breaks apart as Scott breaks through in giant form and holds out his hand so Rhodey, Rocket, and the Hulk can jump off. 

Quill had never been so relieved in his life. Scott survived the direct attack. They all did...and he was a freaking _giant_. He knew Scott could shrink, but this was new.

"Avengers!"

Quill rolls his shoulders as he grabs his guns and Steve summons Mjolnir to him before looking toward Thanos and his army with a glare.

"Assemble."

War cries travel across the battlefield as everyone charges and Quill flies forward until he reaches some aliens and lands on top of one. With that alien stomped into the ground, he punches the closest one before shooting more oncoming aliens. The battle was long and harsh with a seemingly never-ending amount of aliens to fight, and Clint was evading attacks while running around with the gauntlet asking what to do with it. Steve told him to get it as far away as possible, but Bruce immediately told him they needed to return them to which Tony replied that Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel.

"Hold on!" Scott says and shrinks down to normal size. "That wasn't our only time machine."

'La Cucaracha' belts out from somewhere on the battlefield and Quill has to keep himself from laughing as he shoots a few more aliens, and kicks another away. When they first tested out the quantum tunnel without Tony's equipment, he had heard that and questioned Scott about it, and the thief said the van belonged to a friend of his. It was amusing at the time, but in the middle of a battle that their universe depended on? It was inappropriately hilarious.

"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?" Steve asks.  
"Yes!" Valkyrie responds. "But you're not going to like where it's parked!"

That made Quill think of the Milano for a brief moment and was upset that after Rocket and Nebula had taken the time to repair and return it to him, that it was once again destroyed. This time beyond repair. It was nice while it lasted he supposed. 

"Scott, how long you need that thing to get working?"  
"Uh...maybe ten minutes."  
"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you." The captain commands.

The gauntlet was tossed around between them during that time until Wanda got to Thanos and started ripping his armor apart with her magic. The titan commanded to have the ship rain fire on the battlefield, and Quill caught a glimpse of Peter with the gauntlet and getting thrown to the ground when a blast of rocks knocks him out of the air. A nearby sorcerer had cast a shield above Quill and other allies until the attack suddenly directed toward the atmosphere. A bright light flashes through the sky and through Thanos' ship and destroys it, and a woman lands in front of Peter and takes the gauntlet. With help from some of the women they cut a path for Carol to the now activated quantum tunnel in the van, and Quill watches in horror (after shooting more aliens) as Thanos throws his weapon and it beats Carol to the van, and destroys it.

Quill saw red when the van exploded. Scott had been in the van and he never saw the thief leave and he was _pissed_. Not only that, but he was devastated. Now he really couldn't tell Scott how he felt because the fucking titan _killed him_. Quill yells out in despair as he flies toward Thanos and tackles the titan away from the gauntlet that had been tossed away, and to the ground in his fury. The pirate gets thrown off, but only charges at Thanos again when he gets up and catches the fist the alien throws at him with one hand. Thanos looks at him with some surprise as Quill growls at him, and understanding dawns in his eyes when the pirate starts glowing white. 

The celestial had awoken.

"Congratulations." Quill snarls. "You've succeeded in taking away the universe." He grabs Thanos' arm and throws him into some ruins as pillars of light surround the celestial and his eyes fill with galaxy colors. "_MY_ UNIVERSE!"

Quill and Thanos throws hands one on one, and at one point the titan manages to get a hold of the gauntlet and put it on when he knocks Quill away. Carol steps in to keep Thanos from snapping as the celestial shakes away his daze and he watches for just a split moment as his pillars of light skewers aliens all around the battlefield. He really did have his powers, but to his despair, his trigger was Scott's death. Quill wouldn't let his death be in vain though. The moment Thanos used the power stone to knock Carol away, Quill jumped back in and got a grip on the gauntlet before kicking the titan away and causing the gauntlet to slip off Thanos' arm.

He happened to look in Stephen's direction at the same time, and watches as the sorcerer looks over at him and pulls one of his hands away from his spell to keep the water at bay to hold up a single finger. Quill understood immediately and put the gauntlet on without a second thought, but instead of excruciating pain like he expected, the stones seemed to _accept him_. Or rather his Celestial genes. Celestial's were creators of the universe, so maybe they recognized his power and didn't want to destroy him (especially since he was the last remaining one). In fact, he felt a change in him since the gauntlet shrunk down to fit his arm and the Infinity Stones activated.

That didn't matter though because Thanos looked ready to charge at him, and Quill held his arm up with a smirk.

"What are you?" The titan asks as he falters.  
"The last remaining Celestial, bitch."

Quill snaps and a bright light covers the battlefield for a few seconds, and he breathes heavily as the alien army turns to dust all around them. The god didn't feel like celebrating though. The love of his life was taken away from him, and now he would spend eternity alone. No more binge watching movies and falling asleep, no more teasing, no more idiotic dancing...no more Scott. 

"Don't get close! He doesn't look like he's in control and he might lash out with those pillars!" Someone's yell temporarily breaks through his despair, but he just stood there.

Maybe he would lash out. If anyone tried to get too close right now, he wouldn't be able to handle it. He didn't want to hurt anyone...but he wasn't really in the mood to care. Quill wanted one thing and he was never getting--

"Quill?" A familiar voice asks carefully, and Quill's galaxy filled eyes snap toward the approaching man. 

It was Scott. He looked a little scratched up but he was _alive_. Quill wanted to sigh with relief, but a bigger part of him didn't want to believe that the man slowly walking closer to him was actually Scott. He didn't believe it. Not until the younger thief touched his face anyway.

"Hey Spaceman. It's over now. You can calm down now."

That was all it took for the pillars of light to disappear, for the power humming around his body to fade, and for his eyes to recede back to normal green irises. The celestial allows the gauntlet to slip off and land on the ground with a clatter, wraps his arms tightly around Scott, and the younger steps even closer until their chests are flush against each other.

"There you are." Scott mumbles and Quill tightens the embrace.  
"Scott?"

Scott hums in curiosity, and Quill knew he had to tell him now. Tell him how he felt before something else happened and he really _didn't_ get a chance to.

"I want this. Us."  
"I have a daughter." The younger half heartedly argues.  
"She means the world to me too." Quill answers easily.  
Scott grips the lapels of the pirate's jacket and bites his lip nervously as he looks up at Quill. "Are you sure?"

Quill smiles, gently grips the back of Scott's neck, and leans down to kiss him, completely uncaring of their audience. When he pulls away after a few seconds, he gently rests his forehead against Scott's and whispers:

"What I have with you...I don't want with anyone else."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably made Quill OP...but I don't care. I love Celestial Quill.


	8. Chapter 8

Celestial or not, snapping with the stones took a toll on Quill's body. He was physically unharmed but he was completely drained of energy, both from using the stones as well as reawakening and using his powers and he collapsed after he and Scott had their brief heart to heart. He slept for three days straight and not only woke up back in his bed at the lake house, but the first thing he saw was Natasha sitting on the bed beside him, watching tv and filing her nails. He had hoped for her, Loki, and Vision back when he snapped, but didn't know if it worked. At least until now. With Natasha. The Soul Stone must have used Thanos as a trade for the woman, but Quill still had no idea about the other two.

"You purr." Natasha says quietly with a hint of a Russian accent and lowers her file.  
"Who's home?" Quill croaks out, and desperately wished for a few gallons of water and maybe a whole cow to eat.  
Nat knew what he was asking though and smiles softly. "Everyone." 

She gets off the bed after turning off the tv and helps the celestial to his feet after he sits up with some effort. As much as he wanted to say that Scott was the first thing on his mind, it wouldn't be true because he was _starving_. He wanted food and let the assassin know, and Natasha helps him out of the room and down to the kitchen once he throws an arm around her shoulders. He didn't trust his body not to give out on him right now. The last thing he needed was to faceplant two steps from the bed.

Natasha helps him over to the table where he promptly folds his arms and lays his head on them to doze off, and (what felt like) a few seconds later, a large lunch was set in front of him. Quill didn't pay enough attention to know what he was eating when he finally lifted his head, but he ate it all. It was only when he was almost finished and the food he had already eaten gave him the energy he needed that he noticed that sandwiches had been part of his lunch. He wasn't sure about the rest of it though. Whoever fed him could have given him alien guts and he wouldn't have noticed. He was pretty sure that wasn't the case though.

"Well, it looks like that woke you up some." Stephen says from beside him as he picks up the god's empty plates. "You should join everyone outside. You'll feel better once you walk around a bit."  
"If I fall, you're not allowed to laugh." Quill says as he gets to his feet and was glad to find that he could stand and even walk under his own power. "Thanks for the food." 

Stephen hums in response as Quill makes his way toward the screen door where he could hear everyone laughing, talking, or otherwise messing around, but he stops and turns to face the sorcerer again. He was genuinely surprised that he wasn't spending every moment that he could with Diana after missing out on five years of her life, but maybe Stephen happened to be inside when Natasha came downstairs with Quill.

"Hey…" Quill starts. "Was I really the only way we won?"  
"Yes."  
"What about it exactly?"  
Stephen loads the dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them and grabs a couple of plates of cut fruit. "I had to take a risk. You and Scott had to meet and you had to care about him enough to reawaken your celestial powers to be able to snap."  
Quill opens and closes his mouth in disbelief. "Our _one win_ was based on whether or not I had the hots for Scott?!"  
"A crude way to put it but yes. It was the only win where everyone survived." Stephen replies quietly.  
"For having the shittiest luck this side of the Milky Way...we got really fucking lucky." Quill huffs out.  
"You have no idea." The sorcerer says and walks past Quill and out the screen door.

The celestial steps into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge before he steps outside, and he drains half the bottle in the span of a couple of seconds as he steps off the porch. He barely had the time to replace the cap on the bottle before two bodies threw themselves at him, and he grunts in surprise. The two bodies belonged to Cassie and Diana, and the latter was tightly gripping onto his leg and looking up at him with a big smile.

"Are you all better Uncle Quill?"  
"Yeah kiddo. All better." He carefully pats her head and uses his other arm to wrap around Cassie.  
"We were worried when Steve and Bucky carried you here through a portal...and then you didn't wake up for a few days…" Cassie sniffs and buries her face into his shoulder.  
"Hey, hey...everything's fine. Didn't anyone tell you what happened?" Quill soothes.  
Cassie pulls away with watery eyes and smiles at him. "Of course...and it's about time!"  
"_What?_" He questions and looks at the teen in confusion.  
"You love Uncle Scott!" Diana pipes up with an impish smile and Quill blushes bright red.  
"Shit...Cass...if you don't want me to--"  
"Are you kidding? My dad is finally happy and now I can say I have a dad that's a god!"  
Quill narrows his eyes. "I would have been seriously concerned about your priorities if you didn't say you dad was--wait. What? He's happy...with me?"  
Cassie _and_ Dia groan. "You guys are meant for each other. A couple of disasters." She grabs Diana's hand and starts to walk away and Quill points at her retreating figure.  
"You called me your dad! I can ground you for saying that!"  
"It's the truth!" Cassie sasses back and Quill smirks as the girls join the rest of the kids.

For once, he didn't want to brag when he looked around the property and saw everyone spending time with their loved ones. He was just happy that they all had this chance again, and he didn't miss the pure unadulterated relief in Tony's eyes as he looked at Stephen, Harley, and Peter. They even took the time to go back to the tower (probably through one of Stephen's portals) to get their cat that Tony occasionally mentioned during the five years that Quill lived with him and the girls. Even Tibbs was snapped and the engineer missed the feline...and now the cat was playing with Gerald. The alpaca was just laying on the ground while Tibbs jumped on and around him and didn't care a single bit when the cat climbed up to his head and started to paw at one of his ears. Both pets were pretty chill and got along like a house on fire.

It was just nice to see everyone together and happy again. Clint had Natasha and his family, Steve and Bucky, Thor had his brother back, Wanda had Vision...Quill looked around and saw everyone. Everyone but Scott. The younger thief was nowhere to be seen and Quill wondered where he could be. Cassie didn't seem concerned, so maybe he was inside and the celestial missed him, or he was standing or sitting behind something Quill couldn't see past.

"I'm glad to see you finally up and about." Scott says from beside him, and Quill swore he jumped out of his skin.  
"Holy shit! Stop doing that!" The celestial complains and holds his hand over his pounding heart. "How long have you been standing there?"  
Scott laughs. "Since the girls left." He grabs Quill's hand and starts pulling him away from their friends. "Close your eyes."  
"Why?" Quill asks suspiciously.  
"I have a surprise for you."  
The pirate huffs but does as he's asked. "If you push me into the lake, we're going to have words."  
"I won't. Promise."

Scott leads him farther away from the cabin and into the forest behind it, making sure to warn and help Quill around roots and tree stumps, and then stops after a couple of minutes of blind walking. The thief nudges him a few feet to the side and then releases Quill's hand before stepping away and the celestial resists the temptation to open his eyes prematurely.

"Okay. You can open them."

Quill opens his eyes and they widen instantly at the sight before him. In the middle of the small meadow Scott led him to say the Milano in all of her glory and completely unscathed. Quill was certain it had been destroyed at the compound, but here it was, right in front of his eyes.

"I thought this was gone!" The celestial exclaims.  
"I...uh...had a gut feeling the morning of the battle. So I shrunk it down and pocketed it." Scott admits and follows Quill at a slower pace when the god rushes into his ship.

It didn't take long to go over the initial shock the second time around, but he was still surprised that Scott had saved it because of a gut feeling. So the moment the thief steps onto the ship, Quill smashes the button next to the entrance, causing the ramp to come back up and the doors to close behind Scott where he pins the man. Scott gasps out in surprise at the sudden move, but then quietly sighs in pleasure when Quill covers his jaw and his neck in gentle nips and kisses. With just an extra bit of caution, Quill make sure to lock the ship so no one can interrupt them like before, and he wedges his knee between Scott's legs again as he pulls the younger's head back by his hair. Quill wasn't just doing this to thank him for saving his ship (it was definitely a plus though), he was doing this because he finally had the chance to. There were no more threats to their universe, no battles on the horizon, and especially no more risks to worry about (at least for now) and Quill wanted to take the time to finally had to appreciate Scott. To hold him properly.

"Quill...wait." Scott pushes the celestial away just enough to be able to look up at him.  
"What's wrong?"  
"What about space?" He whispers and Quills releases and amused huff.  
"I don't plan on going back out there anytime soon, but when...if...I do, I will _always_ come back. I have a home here now. A family." He gently kisses Scott's temple. "And now I have you."

The blush that adorned Scott's cheeks was nothing less than adorable and Quill never thought he would use that word to describe a man, but here he was...and it was the truth. He lived for every sound, every noise that came out of Scott when their makeout session evolved into more carnal activities, and they didn't even make it to the bed. Quill took him right against the wall and made sure he heard every single sound of pleasure that Scott had to offer until they were spent. That was when the god finally got them to the bedroom so they could clean up and take a quick nap before someone came looking for them. 

The nap didn't actually happen though. Resting would have been a better picture since Quill laid on his back and Scott curled against his side and used his shoulder as a pillow. They were content to listen to the other breathe as they came down from their high, and Scott thoroughly enjoyed having Quill runs his fingers through his freshly showered but still damp hair.

Scott was the first to break the comfortable silence.

"What exactly is a celestial?"  
"A god of light to put it simply." Quill says and wills a small bit of the light to his fingertips. "They supposedly created the cosmos. I actually don't know much about it, but ever since I snapped, the stones gave me the ability to do what my father could do. I'm still half human, but I have the powers of a full celestial."  
"What kind of powers? That you know of at least?" Scott asks.  
"I can create my own planet, maybe even stars...super strength...I'm immortal...and then everything I did during the fight." Quill mumbles.  
"If I didn't know you before that, I never would have believed that you can actually be a huge teddy bear." Scott teases and Quill snorts. "I thought you said your powers died with your father?"  
"I thought so until we met the lady that gave us the time stone. She said they only went dormant and that I needed to find a trigger to reawaken them."  
"What was it?"  
Quill sighs. "When...Thanos...destroyed the van." He swallows the lump in his throat at the memory. "I thought I lost you."

A few moments of silence pass before Scott sits up and looks down at the celestial.

"Do you have any idea how hot it was to see you take on Thanos by yourself with your powers?"  
Quill smirks. "Oh yeah? Maybe you should go into more detail."  
"You'd like that." Scott replies with a scoff and Quill pulls him back down against his side.  
"Actually, I like it when you're here. Right where you belong."  
"In your bed?" Scott drawls with a look of annoyance.  
"_By my side._" The god corrects. "The bed thing is a plus though."  
Scott snorts. "Well the bed thing will have to wait. We should head back. Especially since I'm dying to have some of those cookies the girls baked this morning."  
"Is that what you were thinking of when I was--" Quill stops when the younger slips out of bed and gives him a cheeky smile as he gets dressed. "You brat."

Scott laughs as Quill gets up to get his own clothes on and yelps when the celestial moves close enough to swat his ass. The thief glares in return and then makes his way to the door when he finishes getting dressed, only to be stopped by Quill when the god gently grabs his wrist. Quill pulls him back against his still bare chest and peppers more kisses on Scott's face, jaw, neck, and lips before pressing his forehead to the younger's and looks into his eyes much like he did on the battlefield.

"I love you Sugar."

Quill's heart beats faster when another blush crawls onto Scott's features and then it soars when the thief reaches up and wraps his arms around the Celestial's neck.

"I love you too Spaceman."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is folks. That's the end. Thank you to all who left comments and stuck with this to the end and I hope you and future readers enjoyed it! Comments are always welcome!


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